Artness: A Home and School for the Art of Movement and Its Performance

Artness, founded in 2005 by Shahar Dor, and located in Kibbutz Ein Shemer, is a place for movement artists, audiences and community, in which to study, create and perform. Participants come from all over the world.

“Artness is the connection of art to life, the expression of belief and practice. I see the artist as the human being who is connected to the fire of knowledge and life, and art as originating in core sources and being expressed in never-ending ways.”

“Movement and the Art of Performance are powerful tools for the discovery and expression of the self; of what we are, and what we are living. The willingness to come close to and touch the hot inner core is the key to discovery of the treasure, the doorway to the other, the invitation of the miracle. The necessary ingredients are a love of movement, practice, patience, availability, attention, all over time. The tools are the body, the heart and thought.”
Shahar Dor, Artistic Director, Artness

The School, first and foremost a demanding artistic framework, trains dancers, creators and performers, while allowing them to develop as people and artists who can lead themselves, their art and their surroundings, with curiosity and creativity to new and rich places of inspiration and doing.

The Artness vocabulary is that of body, the awareness of movement and the art of image creating. It is the result of many years of research, creativity and the search for ways of varied expression of a common and inclusive language; in philosophy and practice, in performance, in directing and teaching.

Studies expose the student to a wide variety of experiences aimed at achieving technique and work methodology, discovering their core sources, finding and developing their specific language and voice, and a personal and indelible style as creators and performers.

Artness is also distinct in its physical campus and locality, located in a cooperative agricultural community, made up of small buildings and nature. The experience of attending Artness is therefore a total experience – of life, life within a creative environment, creating a dialogue between life and art.